Basketball in a Shinobi World
by Ckoenig
Summary: Follow 19 year old Tokato Tsuyomi as he deals with his fledgling professional basketball career and his observations of the world around him, which is falling into war.


Today was the day. I had 6 interviews and one practice. Today was the day whether or not I was gonna be told that I was gonna play for my favorite team. In my 5th interview, the GM was gonna tell me if they were gonna draft me. He hinted at it in our first interview and I was convinced that he was gonna tell me today that they were gonna make me the 4th pick of the draft.

Since I was a little kid I had always wanted to play for the Tsunan Dragons. That was my home town. I had been to at least 50 games. And I knew they needed a Small Forward. I was the home town kid. How could they not pick me? There was no better Small Forward in the draft and there was no key free agent that they could sign. In two days, a dream would come true. Playing for the hometown team.

Tsunan was rebuilding sure, but they had the first pick from the draft last year, Koji Arinaga. Arinaga needed someone to pass too and I would be more than willing to play with a guy who averaged 10 assists with no shooters on his team.

I got into the gym at 9:00, which was an hour before I needed to be there, but I was nervous for the interviews. The past week had been stressful. The draft combine in Ryoto was always stressful. The capital was always so busy and when the feudal lord showed up, the gym turned into an absolute zoo. Security and reporters were everywhere. Cameras were going off left and right. It was the craziest thing I had ever been a part of in my 19 years of life.

Anyways, I put my stuff in my locker and put in my mp3 player and went onto the floor of the gym. I was the only one here outside of some of the combine staffers who were happy enough to let me in. I grabbed a ball and went to shooting. More importantly, I was thinking of what I was gonna say during the interviews.

I had gotten the question about 250 times during this week and so many times more beforehand. I was only 19 in fact and had not played in college. Playing for Tsunan Technical High School could only provide so much experience I guess. Even though I average 33 points a game in my senior year, people were still concerned with the competition I had. I only played against 3 people that were going to play in the highest level of college basketball. I had only scored 66 points in those three games and apparently that wasn't impressive enough. Well, as I thought and continued to shoot (and make shots). I saw a staffer wave at me out of the corner of my eye. 9:55. Time to go meet some GM's.

The first meeting was with Osuura. Osuura had the 2nd pick and were probably gonna pick a Center. However, they were still interested and simply wanted to tell me that. There was always a chance. But I didn't believe it.

The next three meetings were more of the same. Kani, who had the 6th pick. Nobara, who had the 5th pick, and Sowamata, who would draft 8th. Basically all of them said I was very high on their list and I could expect a call if I were to fall that far.

Then, the moment I had been waiting for. The moment that kept me up last night. I got to talk with Masaharu Fukudome. The general manager and president of player development for the Tsunan Dragons.

I walked into the conference room and saw that he was already seated. He was playing with his phone and looked up when the door closed. He smiled and sat up. I returned the smile and shook his hand.

"Ah, Takato. It's nice to see you again. I hope all your interviews are going well today."

"Yes, it's good to see you to Mr. Fukudome. All my interviews are going really well, but I have to be honest, I have been looking forward to this one all day." I replied as I sat down.

He smiled some more. "That's nice to hear. Well obviously Tsunan is a great team and even though we are rebuilding it, it's good to hear that we still have people wanting to come and play here. I see your enthusiasm and I'm just cut this thing short." He said. I leaned in without thinking. This was it.

"We are going to draft you fourth if you are still on the board." I smiled. I couldn't help it.

I wanted to scream with excitement but I couldn't do that.

I got up and shook his hand. "You have no idea how much this means to me. I have always wanted to play for Tsunan. I can't really say how thankful I am."

Fukudome laughed. "Just thank us on the court." I smiled more and walked out of the room.

My next meeting wasn't for another hour and it would look bad if I didn't go to it. But I had to go somewhere to celebrate. I got on my phone.

"Mom?" I asked as someone picked up the phone at home.

"How's it going Takato? Did something happen?"

"I just got out of my meeting with Tsunan. They said they were gonna pick me fourth." Silence on the phone for a second.

"OH MY GOD! That's amazing. Hold on. TAKU! TAKU! Your son is on the phone. He has some good news for you!" My mom called out to my dad. Classic mom.

A second later, I heard the phone click. "Hello? Takato? What is it boy?"

"I just got out of my meeting with Tsunan. They are going to pick me fourth."

Silence. Then, "HOLY SHIT! OH MY GOD! You're not kidding me boy, are you? I swear to god, if this is a joke, I'm going to murder you."

"No, Dad, it's not a joke. Fukudome just told me."

"HAHAHA. Yes! My son is going to be a Dragon. I'll rule the fan club now." If there was anyone who was a bigger Tsunan Dragons fan, it was my dad.

"Haha. Thanks for thinking of me, Dad." I joked.

"No, wait, I was just excited. I mean this is incredible. You get to play in The Lair. It's just really amazing!"

"Okay, Taku, let your son get back to his day. He is very busy."

"I will, Erika, Why can't I be excited too, Hunh?"

"Okay, guys, I got to go. I'll see you in couple days alright?"

"Bye, Honey."

"Got get'm son."

I hung up the phone and chuckled to myself. My parents were so good to me. I guess it came with the turf of being a single child. My mom was super protective and my dad was a crazed basketball fan. If it wasn't him dragging me to a court then I would have never been a basketball player. My dad only got a little crazy once. I got benched during my freshman year in a game one time. I was the only freshman to ever start a game for my high school. A game. I went 0 for 8 in the first half and didn't start the second half. I heard my dad from the opposite side of the gym. Not yelling. Just complaining.

I got back in and scored 6 points and we won but after that every time I went out of any game, the whole gym was no subject to my Dad's complaints of how the game was over.

Anyways, I had one more meeting today. The Tarakawa Titans were rebuilding. They lost two of their better players the year before and they had a new point guard and shooting guard. They didn't do that bad but they weren't going to do too good this year. They had the 9th pick in the draft this year.

I walked into another conference room and was greeted by three men. One was the general manager, Osuma Sokada, while I didn't know the other two.

"Ah, Takato, good to see you. This is Michio Nagata, Vice President of Scouting and over on my left is Team President Toshiaki Coda." Sokada said. I shook both of their hands and sat down.

"So, Takato, we just have a few last questions for you. You're high on our draft board and we would love to have you come play with us, if we got the chance to draft you."

"Thanks, I appreciate that. It would be amazing just to get picked in the draft."

"Well, that's great. Now let's get down to business. Uh, Michio had some questions for you first and then Osuma is going to ask a few follow-ups." Sokada said.

I nodded and looked to Michio. He was an older man of about 50 and was graying a bit. He looked over to me and then looked at his note pad.

"So, do you think you are ready to play in the NBL without going to college first?"

I expected this. Not this late, but whatever. I had answered it a million times.

"I do. I think that the quality of my play has shown throughout my ability to always play up to my competition. I am the only freshman to make the varsity team, play in a game, start a game and lead the team in scoring during a game. I scored 31 points during the National Championship while I was a sophomore and the only person in my district to average 30 points a game during the junior and senior years. I played against the 22nd pick in the draft last year, while he was still in high school and he only scored 4 points while I was guarding him, while I scored 34 on him. I think that even without the college experience that I am ready to play in the NBL." I had given that answer 50 times. It was memorized at this point.

They looked impressed and Michio scribbled down a few notes.

Michio then looked up again, "So then how would you classify yourself as a player in the NBL?"

I thought about this for a second. "I think I'm a well-balanced player. I can shoot three pointers and I can drive to the lane. I draw a lot of free throw attempts and I was on the National All – Defense Team in High School. I can guard point guards and centers. I can rebound, I can pass, and I can run up and down the court. I think that I'm the best all-around player in the draft his year."

Again more impressed looks. Then Toshiaki asked me something, I wasn't really expecting. "Do you think Tosuke Kokura gets a scholarship if he doesn't play with you in high school?"

Tosuke was the point guard at Tsunan Technical. He got a scholarship to a small Division 1 team up north. He wasn't really expecting it but towards the last few days of the season he got the letter. Tosuke was planning on playing Division 2 and was super excited to get this. A couple of people in the area, however, thought that he wasn't good enough to play D-1 and thought that his stats were inflated because he played with me.

"Tosuke deserves to be playing D-1. He is a great point guard. He can pass, he can read defenses and he can knock down a shot when he needs to. I know it helped to be playing with me but he could have absolutely been a number 1 player if he was by himself. And besides he was the one that hit the tying and winning shots in the championship game."

We were down by 2 points with 7 seconds left. We had called a timeout to avoid a turnover. We were playing a team from down south on the peninsula. It was the Class 4 National Championship. I got doubled teamed and Tosuke was left wide open. He hit the tying shot with 5 seconds left. We then stole their inbound and swung around to Tosuke who was wide open again. He hit a game winning three at the buzzer. He only had 8 points that game but he had 13 assists. 11of them went to me. I scored 31 points. We won 63-60.

"Okay. So, where would you have gone to college if you weren't entering the NBL draft this year and what would you have studied?" Another question from Toshiaki that I hadn't received that often.

"I think that if I wouldn't have entered the NBL draft, I would have either gone to the University of Senano or I would have stayed around here and gone to Nakoya. I would have liked to study Engineering or gone into some sort of Technical program."

"Okay, Tokato, one more question." This time it was Osuma. "How would you rebuild the Titans if we drafted you?"

I was surprised. It's like they wanted me to play GM this time. I thought for a second or two.

"Well, first I would get a pass-first point guard who could run all the plays we needed to. He needs to be able to get the ball to the other players. He needs to be someone who doesn't mind if they score or not. He needs to be happy with assists. Then I would find a spot-up shooting guard. Someone who can knock down outside shots. He should be able to come off screens and hit a shot. He also needs to get open. Then I would find two big men who can play in the post. They should be able to get a lot of rebounds."

The three men nodded and looked at each other.

"Well, Tokato, thanks for your time today. We really appreciate it and wish you the best of luck over the next few days." Osuma said as he rose to see me out. Michio and Toshiaki rose as well and shook my hand.

I left and went to my locker to grab my stuff.

As I walked out of the arena and to my hotel room, I thought about two of the interviews specifically. Tarakawa and Tsunan. I was more excited about Tsunan obviously but the Tarakawa interview was very interesting. I thought that it was interesting that they asked me some questions like that. It was clear that they wanted to draft me but I didn't really think I would fall that far. Tsunan did promise me.

As I unlocked my room, I decided to just relax about it and enjoy today. My parents were coming into the city tomorrow and I was excited about the draft the day after that. I had just thrown my bag on my bed when I heard a knock at my door.

"Tokato! It's Hidemi! Let me in!" Hidemi was a fellow prospect of mine. He was 22 and had just graduated from the University of Kanjima, where he led the team in scoring. He was probably going to get picked in the later parts of the first round. We got paired up in the first game during the rookie combine and become quick friends.

I opened the door and immediately saw that Hidemi was pale.

"What's wrong?"

"Turn on the T.V." He rushed past me and grabbed the remote. He sat on the bed and looked for the right channel.

"Dude, what's going on?"

He shushed me and pointed to the TV. My mouth dropped.

"So, if you are just joining us, let's recap. The Hidden Leaf Village has been attacked by an unknown enemy and has been damaged profusely. About 4 hours ago, the fighting began according to eye-witnesses and has been going on ever since. Reports are confusing but we can confirm that the Hidden Leaf Village has taken extreme casualties including the Hokage, Tsunade. Parts of the village has been razed and combat continues." The reported said. I shook my head in disbelief.

The Hidden Leaf Village was now a crater.


End file.
